Biden to slowly allow 25,000 people seeking asylum into U.S.

Roberta Jacobson, coordinator for the southwest border on the White House National Security Council, said asylum-seekers who have been waiting the longest will get priority, along with people deemed more vulnerable due to their health or threats to their safety.

The announcement provides no relief to people whose cases were dismissed or denied, and Jacobson told Spanish-language media that the administration was still considering how to address any cases beyond those that are active. Advocates argue that communication problems, including lack of working addresses in Mexico, caused some people to miss hearings and lose their cases as a result.

Mexico agreed to take back more asylum-seekers in June 2019 to defuse Trump's threats of tariff increases. Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador welcomed Biden's changes, saying at a news conference Friday that it would be “good” for the U.S. to host them instead while their cases wind through the system.

The Remain in Mexico releases will come as more people are getting stopped crossing the border illegally since Biden took office, challenging the administration in its early days.

Raul Ortiz, deputy chief of the Border Patrol, said Tuesday that more than 3,000 people had been stopped in each of the previous 10 days, compared with a daily average of 2,426 in January.

About 50 to 80 adults and children have been arriving daily since Jan. 27 at Catholic Charities of the Rio Grande Valley in Texas, which temporarily houses people released by the Border Patrol, said Sister Norma Pimentel, the group’s executive director. The charity tests for COVID-19 and sends anyone who tests positive to a hotel for isolation.

Jewish Family Service of San Diego housed 191 asylum-seekers the first 10 days of February after they were released, up from 144 in January and 54 in December, said Eitan Peled, the group’s border services advocate. They are quarantined in hotels for 10 days.